Wedding of a Century
by TheReine
Summary: All the secrets of Konoha's Canon Couples (good and bad) get revealed the night before Ino and Sai's wedding. This is the true story about what happened before, during, and after the Wedding of a Century.
1. Chapter 1

The bustling streets of Konoha were completely empty for once.

The moonlight splashed over the town illuminating everything in its path.

The weather was perfect for a summer night; warm enough to wear anything you wanted with a hint of a breeze grazing your skin every once in awhile.

It would have been a peaceful night of rest for the village… if it weren't for the roaring laughter and pitter-patter of heels coming from a small group of six women who were slowly making their way down the main road.

A small clump of five seemed to be walking in unison, while one rouge wandered off on her own swaying in the distance

After walking a few feet ahead, the rouge tripped over her own feet and crumbled to the floor.

"S-s-s-shit," Temari screamed while attempting to dust fresh dirt off her tight black dress.

Her booming and heavily intoxicated voice seemed to echo across every single house down the street.

It could have been so loud that the other girls wouldn't be surprised if the entire village heard it.

"This is theeeeee thirdfuckingtime I've fallen since we left the bar. K-karui move your ass over here and help me."

"That's not my fault you can't handle your liquor. Who would have thought that out of everyone here tonight, you'd be the first one who's a mess!" Karui cackled as she bent down to help Temari up.

She proceeded to wrap one arm around Temari's waist, struggling to get her to stand.

Temari hiccupped loudly for all the girls to hear and wiped her mouth violently before placing an arm around Karui's neck.

"O-o-o-h my god! Don't tell Shika-shikamaru please… I wont hear the end of it." Temari hiccupped again, while hanging her head in defeat.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Karui chortled, turning around to wink at the other girls.

With her friend wrapped around her like a snake, she slowly began to shuffle ahead of the other girls

Right behind them; Hinata, Tenten, Ino and Sakura matched each other's strides giggling at the visual of Shikamaru and Temari arguing about this in the morning.

The girls had just spent the past 4 hours drinking in Konoha's nearest bar.

Dressed in the tightest dresses and highest heels they owned, they went to celebrate the eve of Ino and Sai's wedding.

Ino begged the girls to go out for one last night of "freedom".

Sakura always found this so amusing due to the fact that Sai gave Ino more freedom than was necessary.

Sakura's thoughts of the couple were interrupted by the sound of Temari's screaming complaint that she broke her heel.

"Guys, please don't be too loud. I really don't want to wake anyone up." Hinata yelled in a soft voice, waving her arm in the air for Temari to notice her.

"Oh come on Hinata, can't you just let loose for once? You're always such a bore." Ino sneered, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

Sakura looked over to Hinata and noticed a slow creep of a deep shade of crimson spread across her cheeks.

This wasn't an extra wave of Sake blush Sakura noticed, but that she was embarrassed.

It was one thing for Ino to tease Sakura like this, but not poor sweet Hinata.

Sakura's liquid courage began to overtake her body and she felt courageous enough to call Ino out in front of everyone.

With the moonlight shining down on her like a spotlight, Sakura stopped dead in her tracks while the other girls walked ahead.

"Ino-pig, stop being such a bitch to her. She just doesn't want to wake everyone up, unlike you." Sakura declared, glaring at Ino as she crossed her arms.

The sound of Ino's heels no longer crunching in the dirt caught the attention of Hinata and Tenten.

With a hand placed delicately on top of her hip, Ino slowly turned to face Sakura.

Hinata and Tenten scurried off to the sidewalk, bracing themselves to be caught in the cross fires of another argument.

Sakura and Ino had been fighting throughout the entire process of planning Ino's wedding.

Sakura was chosen to be Ino's maid of honor (a shock to most of the girls), however Ino had been a HUGE bridezilla and control freak.

Whether they argued about dresses, food suggestions, or sending out invitations, the two always seemed to be at odds. The girls were hoping that tonight would be the only night they didn't argue.

A harsh gust of wind suddenly flew across the street, causing everyone's hair to be disarray.

Hinata held her breath while twisting her fingers in a knot, feeling guilty as if she caused the argument.

Tenten looked ahead to Temari and Karui who were distracted by trying to put Temari's heel back together.

Ino then fluffed her hair and began slowly began to walk closer to Sakura, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

The moonlight now surrounded both of them, looking almost like they were the only two on the street.

Hinata and Tenten took a sharp inhale of breath to watch the drama unfold.

Sakura then tugged at the bottom of her short red dress in an attempt to ease the adrenaline flowing through her veins.

With her eyebrow still arched, Ino then leaned forward and laughed in Sakura's face.

Hinata and Tenten looked to one another with a mixture of confusion and worry for Sakura.

What was Ino going to say or do this time?

"You know Sakura," Ino said with a slow smile creeping across her face.

"I like you so much more when you're drunk."

"I don't like you drunk or sober!" Sakura snorted.

Both Sakura and Ino glared at one another for what seemed like an eternity.

Suddenly, Ino grabbed hold of Sakura's wrist.

Tenten stepped forward getting ready to intervene incase things got violent. She had seen them verbally argue before, but never physically harm one another.

After a few tense moments, Ino relaxed her shoulders and turned away from Sakura.

"Stop holding up the party forehead! Lets catch up to Temari and Kauri, I want to keep the fun going!" Ino smirked while tugging on Sakura's hand to follow her.

The tension between the two girls then completely disappeared as they smiled at one another and walked side by side.

Hinata and Tenten who were now behind all the other four girls remained planted on the sidewalk stunned at the scene.

At the same time, both looked to one another and sighed heavily in relief.

"Hurryupbitches! There's still a lot more troubleeee to get into before morning!" Temari screeched from the end of the street to Hinata and Tenten, in an attempt to have them catch up with the group.

"What else is there still to do? Its already 1 am!" Tenten yelled to Temari after checking her watch.

The two of them walked as fast as their heels would allow them to catch up with the rest of the group.

After finally herding together, Sakura lead everyone around to a shadowed alley that the moonlight somehow had missed.

The alley was so small that the girls had to attempt to form a straight line, hold hands and walk one by one in order to not get lost.

The minuscule pathway was so quiet that the only noise that was heard consisted of heels clunking along the pavement and their breathing (except Temari who had the occasional hiccup.)

The smell of perfume and sake wafting around them, it was the only thing to remind one another that they were not alone in the dark.

"Please tell me that wherever were going next will consist of some hot male strippers." Karui said impatiently from the dark, causing everyone to jump.

Hinata blushed and closed her eyes, embarrassed at such a thought.

"Wait, aren't you married?" Tenten piped up, turning her head around in the darkness in an attempt to see the other girls.

"So?! I'm allowed to look, just not to touch." Karui retorted.

Sakura suddenly came to a stop, which caused the girls to comically bump into one another.

A loud thud was heard behind them, causing all the girls to scream.

"What the hell was that?" Ino whispered to Sakura

"It's-s-s-s-s okay everyone. No need to worry…that was jus-s-s-st me falling on a trashcan." Temari slurred from the darkness.

"You moron, you scared us!" Karui cursed, fumbling around in an attempt to find Temari.

"Why did we stop Sakura-chan?" Hinata said

"Because…we've arrived to our final destination of the night! Ino's flower shop!" Sakura cheered

"What? We're at the shop? Why did you have us walk all the way around town then!? It's not that far away from the bar." Ino yelled, pushing Sakura's arm away from her own.

"Well," Sakura hesitated "I had to buy us some time for all the decorations to arrive. Not to mention, where's the fun if there's no mystery involved." Sakura said with a smile growing on her face.

"Decorations? What do you mean? Oh, just let me in forehead." Ino huffed, pushing Sakura completely out of the way this time.

After groping the space in front of her, she was finally able to feel a doorknob.

Much to her surprise, the door was already unlocked.

Ino knew exactly where she was in the building based off its smell alone.

This was the back entrance, the one that was closest to the roses.

It was her favorite place to be in the entire shop.

Ino sniffed the air and immediately froze in place, noticing that something was very different than usual.

"Sakura…I swear…if this shop is damaged in any way, shape, or form, I will kick your ass." Ino hissed, while cautiously walking through the doorway.

"Just trust me, keep walking. I'll go turn on the light." Sakura giggled as she strayed away from the rest of the group.

Hinata grabbed Tenten's arm as they squeezed through the doorway one after another.

Tenten eventually led Hinata through the darkness to stand next to Ino in a small circle.

"Temari, Karui, get in here!" Ino grunted as she searched in the dark, hoping to find some way to illuminate the room.

"Sorry it's taking me so long," Karui bellowed to the other girls. "I have some dead weight I have to lug around."

"whoareyoucallingdeadweight?" Temari slurred.

"Sakura, hurry up! Why must you always hold everyone up?" Ino said, tapped her foot impatiently while moving her hair to drape over her shoulder.

"Give me… like…. 10 more seconds please!" Sakura's voice called out, sounding a lot farther away then Ino expected.

"Whyyyy are we sitting in the dark? Let's parrrty!" Temari's voice cheered from the floor.

"I think you're done for the night…" Karui trailed off

"SAKURA! I SWEAR TO…" Ino screeched before getting cut off by the flickering of lights above her head.

There was an audible sigh from the other girls as they began to look around the room.

Above them were hundreds of small twinkling lights that lit up the room, almost mimicking a night sky full of stars.

All the flowers that were usually spread throughout the shop were now surrounding them across every corner of the room.

Not only was the scent of the flowers heavenly but also they only consisted of two colors, white and purple.

Which just happened to be Ino's wedding colors.

In the center of the room stood a small white wood table draped with a fine purple silk table cover.

Surrounding the table were strategically placed white wooden chairs with purple silk bows on the back.

On top of the table plates, silverware and wine glasses were splashed across it.

Confused about what all this was for, they looked to the far right of the room to see another table with the same purple cover.

Ino shuffled over to get a closer look at what was displayed on top of it.

With a small gasp she realized that it was every single one of her favorite foods, desserts and wines before her.

As if the table couldn't look any more bewitching, white rose petals were strewn across it.

To the left of the table, a clothesline was hung right above where the cash register normally was.

There were six beautiful white silk robes with the words "Bride" and "Bridesmaids" embroidered onto the back of each with purple cursive script.

In the far left corner of the room, there was another white chair with a large purple bow.

However unlike the other empty chairs, this one had a small glass bowl with pieces of neatly folded paper inside of it.

Turning around to look ahead of the table, almost exactly where the entrance was they noticed brand new sleeping bags.

They weren't just ordinary sleeping bags, but ones that were Ino's favorite shade of purple, with brand new silk pillows that had the same words as their robes embroidered on the top left corner.

The sleeping bags were placed right next to one another, giving it the illusion of a field of purple silk grass.

With a hand across her mouth and without saying a word, Ino slowly walked to sit in the center chair of the table.

The rest of the group besides Sakura followed Ino in silence and grabbed an empty chair.

Sakura shuffled in nervously from the lack of words as she took the last open seat right next to Ino.

After another few moments of looking around in silent amazement, Sakura cleared her throat.

"So…w-what do you think?" she softly asked.

Ino's eyes darted over to Sakura's direction, the look was unreadable to girls.

But before Ino could speak, a small voice cut her off.

"Its beautiful Sakura-chan." Hinata said, smiling over Sakura's direction.

Four of the five girls began to express to Sakura how amazing they thought it was, and wondered how she was able to pull this off.

However, Ino was still unable to find herself to respond.

"Leeeeeets get this party started!" Temari cheered as she raised her empty wine glass in the air.

The girls would all migrate around the room to grab food, drinks, and admire all the beautiful decorations.

After about a half hour of small talk, changing into their robes, and taking off their uncomfortable heels. Sakura decided it was finally time to play some games.

Sakura tapped a small metal spoon to her wine glass to get all the girl's attention.

"So, before we get all emotional and even more drunk…I planned a small game for us to play."

"Ohmygodiloveplayinggames" Temari giggled, with her arms and head resting on the table for support.

"I'm scared." Tenten hesitated

"No no no no! Don't be! I promise, it's going to be a lot of fun." Sakura beamed

"Oh that's a relief." Karui whispered as she elbowed Tenten's arm

Sakura turned around to the small chair in the left corner and delicately picked up the bowl.

As she turned to face the other girls she had a mischievous look on her face and put the bowl in the center of the table.

"Ladies, I present to you the bowl of truth." Sakura cheered as her inner self began to spill out.

All the girls stared at the bowl and eventually began to glance at one another in confusion.

"S-s-s-o what do we do with it?" Temari demanded, as she looked up innocently at Sakura.

With a smug look on her face, Sakura picked the bowl up once more and held it up in the air with one hand.

"In this bowl here, I have placed a series of random questions. When it's your turn, you'll choose a question and have to answer it. If you decide not to answer…there will be a punishment." Sakura audaciously stated.

Hinata turned bright red and raised her hand to ask Sakura a question.

"Sakura-Chan, what is the "punishment"?" Hinata apprehensively asked.

Sakura batted her eyelashes at Hinata, and smiled as sweetly as possible.

"It's a secret. Let's just say, it would be better to answer the question." Sakura cooed with her once sweet smile turning deadly.

"Oh….okay Sakura-chan." Hinata smiled nervously as she put both elbows on the table and delicately rested her chin on top of her hands.

Sakura placed the bowl in the center of the table and put both hands on her hips.

"So, who wants to go first?"

All the girls looked around at each other nervously without saying a word.

"I will. Pass it over to me." A firm voice said.

Everyone collectively looked over at Ino, who bravely volunteered.

"Well, now I really can't wait for this." Sakura smirked as she passed the bowl over to Ino.

Ino tried to buy as much time as possible to avoid answering, not wanting to admit to anyone (especially Sakura) that she was nervous.

She dragged the bowl across the table cover snagging it on the fabric in an attempt at slowing the process.

Her heart began to beat furiously as she placed her hand into the sea of papers.

After what seemed like an eternity, one was finally chosen.

All the girls scooted the chairs together on one side, leaving the soon to be bride by herself.

As Ino slowly opened the paper she took a deep breath of support before reading it.

Sakura noticed that Ino's normally confident blue eyes had nervously skimmed over the words multiple times.

Inner Sakura was shaking with excitement.

After reading the question multiple times, Ino closed her eyes and remained in silence thinking of her answer.

"So," Karui pleaded, "What the hell does it say?"

"Um…" Ino timidly replied with her eyes still closed.

In unison the girls all leaned forward with hungry eyes, anticipating the question and answer.

Ino opened her eyes at once and an impish smile grew on her face.

She held up the card closer to her once again confident eyes and read allowed.

"Have you ever been dated or hooked up with someone in Konoha besides who you're with now (if you have someone that is). If so, please tell us the story. In detail."

All the girls besides Ino began to shriek in excitement, and scooted closer together.

"So," Ino purred to the hungry crowd.

The girls scooted even closer together almost on top of one another anxiously waiting.

"Have I ever told you the story about the time I hooked up with Kiba?"


	2. Chapter 2

In unison, the girls let out an audible gasp.

"YOU WHAT?!" Tenten screamed.

Sakura was suddenly overtaken by uncontrollable laughter.

Not too far away, Hinata had one hand over her mouth and attempted to hide a small smile.

With her bright blue eyes widening in embarrassment, Ino winced due to the fact that she had to repeat this aloud again.

She placed her right hand on her hip and pretended to admire the nail polish on the other.

"Yep, I hooked up with Kiba. I mean…it happened so long ago I had almost forgotten." Ino said pretending to be bored.

"How could you forget something like THAT happened?!" said Sakura as she tried to suppress another fit of giggles.

All at once the girls whispered to each other in astonishment, leaving Ino irritated enough to close her eyes and turn away from everyone.

"Can I just s-s-say something?" Temari asked while sloshing wine around in her glass.

Ino opened her eyes immediately to stare at Temari in a pained expression, clearly afraid of what she was going to say.

Temari was always extremely brash and unapologetic.

Ino wasn't ready to hear what she had to say, but nodded her head towards Temari's direction indicating she could speak.

"I'm soooooo relieved you didn't say MY Shikamaru…I probably would haveee..kickedyourass." Temari boldly announced after a large chug of wine.

Temari casually excused herself from the table to get another drink, leaving the other girl to look at each other in astonishment.

As Temari eventually turned her back to the table of girls to fill her glass, there was a tornado of hushed voices in the background.

"Oh my GOD", "HER Shikamaru?! That's so cute!", "Don't worry I'm going to tell him."

Immediately after Temari turned back around to walk to the table they stopped whispering about it.

"Tell us the story now, please!" Karui pleaded with wide eyes.

"Well…" Ino began to start.

The girls huddled even closer together now almost sprawled on each other and holding hands for support.

"This was maybe… like ….2 years ago? Shino, Kiba, and I were sent on a mission to the Land of Waves to help capture a known murderous band of thieves. Due to the fact that Shino rarely speaks, I was bored out of my mind and could only talk to Kiba. And I mean... it wasn't a bad thing, he was actually pretty funny. Anyways, after Sasuke had left, I needed something to get my mind off of him. And Kiba was an attractive boy who was actually paying attention to me." Ino began to explain.

Immediately as Sakura heard Ino mention Sasuke she felt a pain deep within her chest. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at the thought of Ino needing something to get her mind off him.

As Sakura took a deep breath trying to calm down, she was interrupted by Ino.

"I mean...Kiba WAS attractive, don't you think?" Ino asked the crowd.

There is an awkward silence that moved across the girls almost in a wave.

Ino cleared her throat in an attempt to have some noise fill the room again.

"Anyways! After spending almost a month out on this mission, we started getting really close. And I started to have some feelings for him, but I didn't want to say anything."

Hinata looked at Ino with a smile and nodded her head in understanding, thinking about how she used to be with Naruto.

"So when do you guys hook up?" Karui hooted from across the table.

Ino's eyes bulged from her head and a loud gurgle came from her throat.

"I'm getting to that part you idiot, I just have to build the tension!" Ino screeched.

"So after tracking these guys down for awhile, we finally caught up with them as they tried to cross over the border. We were outnumbered but were able to fight them without too many complications. I used my mind transfer jutsu on one of the goonies, but it went wrong." Ino slowly described.

Ino had noticed that all the girls at this point were all resting their chins in their palms and were giving her their complete attention.

Ino had a twinkle in her eye as she soaked in the moment of having all eyes on her for once.

She knew she had to build the story up to make it interesting for them.

"One of the goons had figured out that I was now actively controlling the other and took advantage of it. He threw kunai knives at me, and I couldn't get away. Kiba was screaming for me to come back, but for some reason I couldn't transfer into my own body again. Shino managed to distract them with his flying bugs or whatever and I was able to go back to my own. I was pretty badly hurt and had no chakra left. I ended up passing out during the fight, so I don't have all the details of how it ended. But when I opened my eyes Kiba was holding my head in his lap stroking my hair. The butterflies I had at the time were unreal. But, I kept my cool and tried not to show it. I couldn't walk at all, so Kiba had to carry me on his back while Akamaru and Shino were walking ahead of us looking for shelter for the night. He told me that he was really worried about me, and blah blah blah." Ino said in a bored voice.

"Wow, these are some great details." Karui snorted.

Ino's eye twitched as she began to pace around the room.

The girls that surrounded the table were unable to take their eyes off of her, and were desperate to hear the rest of the story.

"We ended up finding some dumpy little shack to sleep for the night and tried to rest for the journey home. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep, so I decided to take a walk around the shack. I was thinking about how badly the fight went, and how useless I was during it. Then I heard someone walking towards me but I didn't bother to look. I was too grumpy and upset to even turn around for them. I felt Kiba's jacket as he leaned against the tree next to me. He started talking to me, but I really wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying. He knew I wasn't listening, so he put a finger under my chin and turned my face towards him. He looked sooooo cute showing some concern for me, and then I don't know what came over me…" Ino trailed off lost in thought.

Ino looked back at the girls who were still in the same position as before, but this time their mouths were hanging wide open.

"So….what happened Ino-Chan?" A doe eyed Hinata asked in a hush tone.

Ino looked up at the ceiling to all the twinkling lights above her head, and a small smile creeped on her face.

The lights above her kind of reminded her of the night it happened.

It was something that she repressed for a long time, and it felt unusually nice to almost relieve the story again.

"I just kissed him. I literally just grabbed his face and kissed him." Ino sighed being slightly embarrassed at her actions from so long ago.

There was an overwhelming amount of gasps and deep breaths heard from the girls across the table.

Even an unbelievably trashed Temari couldn't help but react in the same way.

Ino waited for someone to say something, but no one was speaking up.

Was she supposed to say something else to them?

Finally, the always outspoken Karui broke the silence. "So you just kissed? That's it?"

Ino immediately turned as red as Sakura's dress and looked at the floor.

"Well, no… We actually had sex against the tree while Shino and Akamaru were asleep."

Ino's eyes quickly darted around the table looking at the girls individually.

Each of them held a different expression on their face.

Ino first looked to her left at Karui, whose eyes were bulging from her head with her mouth hanging open.

Temari was so shocked that she was literally grabbing onto Karui's arm for support, and looked frozen in place.

Hinata had her hands covering her eyes and mouth completely, making her expression unreadable.

Tenten's eyes were squinting at Ino, making her nose and upper lip crinkle.

Sakura literally looked like a villain from a horror movie. Her hair was disheveled from her hands running through it so many times. Her eyes were completely closed and she had the largest and jaggiest smile spread across her face.

The room remained so silent that the only thing that could be heard was Ino's heavy breathing.

All of a sudden, the five girls looked at one another and screamed at the top of their lungs with excitement.

Ino was suddenly drowning a sea of random questions from the other girls.

"WAS HE GOOD?!", "Does Sai know?", "Holy shit are you serious?" ,"Was he your first?"

Ino shook her head and kept her mouth completely shut, planning to avoid answering any of their questions.

After the screaming and questions died down, Ino finally spoke.

"We tried to date in secret for awhile after that. But, the only thing we could bond over was that mission. Anytime we tried to talk or do anything we would always argue. I think the reason why it happened was because in that moment my emotions went crazy and I wasn't thinking straight. I'm not going to say anything else because I've told you enough."

"So…it is weird when you see him?" Tenten quietly asked

Ino thought about the question for a long time.

But when she finally knew the answer to it, she walked back to the table and took a seat in her chair.

"Not at all. We both know what happened and we accept it. We're friends and I'm really glad it ended that way. If it wasn't for that ending, I probably wouldn't be able to be with my amazing fiancé." Ino said with fierce emotion.

"I'm so incredibly happy right now. And I wouldn't trade that for any person or any thing. I thought I knew what falling for someone meant, but now I realize that I was wrong. The way I feel about Sai is the true definition of what love is."

Without warning, her emotions began to spill over and a tear fell down her cheek.

Ino didn't dare to look up from the table as she wiped her eyes with a napkin she stole from Sakura.

She looked at the purple silk beneath her hands and twisted the fabric around.

She took a deep breath and smiled, remembering that she was getting married to her one true love tomorrow afternoon.

Interrupting her thoughts about Sai, Karui suddenly stood up and got out of her chair.

Ino grabbed some extra fabric and pinched it tightly, trying to control her anxiety for what was going to happen next.

Karui suddenly began to slow clap as Ino slowly looked up at her, meeting her soft gaze.

Ino looked around the room, surprised to see how touched everyone was.

"That was so beautiful." Tenten whispered.

Karui interrupted the tender moment by yelling, "That was one hell of a story. If this is only the beginning of these question things, then I'm fucking JACKED about what everyone else has to say."

Ino made direct eye contact with Sakura, and they stared at each other for a moment. Sakura's mouth twitched into a smile only Ino could recognize.

"Sorry to break up the eyesex between the two of you, but will you pass me the bowl?" Karui asked Ino.

Ino fluffed her hair to one side then reached in front of herself and slid the glass bowl to her left to be right in front of Karui.

Karui cracked her knuckles and greedily grabbed at first paper that touched her hand.

She was so excited to open it that she almost ripped the paper completely in half. Her eyes furrowed together as she tried to read and understand the question that was being asked. She climbed off her chair and walked to the empty space between the table and sleeping bags.

She fixed her hair and smoothed out her robe before speaking.

"So, this is the story about first date Choji and I ever went on." Karui announced.

In order to get a better look at her, everyone moved their chairs to be directly across from Karui. They once again clumped together, resting their heads on each other's shoulders getting ready for another great story.

"Well, as most of you know…I wasn't on the best of terms with a lot of people here in the village.." Karui sighed as her eyes slowly moved towards Sakura's direction.

"So, it was very difficult for me to make any sort of friends here. But, that changed when I met Choji. So…I was out shopping for dinner one night at the market, browsing in the meat area when I noticed he was staring at me. I recognized him from the war, but didn't know anything else about him. I tried my best to ignore it and continue looking for what I needed. But he was relentless and just kept watching me. The staring got so intense that I felt like I couldn't continue to shop, and I had to go confront this guy for being so weird. I marched over to him to ask what the hell his problem was! He didn't answer me at first, but eventually said, "I'm sorry for staring, you're just the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.""

Sakura stuck out her bottom lip in a pout as she put a hand to her heart. Temari had her head rested against Tenten's shoulder as she played with a part of her robe. Hinata giggled with Tenten and looked over to Karui with a brilliant smile. Ino propped her left elbow on the table and held her face in her palm looking bored.

"Then what happened?" Ino asked pretending not to be too interested.

"I couldn't even answer him. I just stood there, completely frozen. Then he came closer to me and told me the meat that I had chosen for dinner wasn't adequate enough for a woman like me, and that he would love to take me out to a place that would have food fit for a queen. In my mind, my answer was a lot more thought out…but all I could muster was a stupid, and simple "okay." He smiled this huge smile and asked when I was free. Considering I had no one, I wanted to hang out with someone as soon as possible. I also wasn't sure if he was just fucking around with me and not being serious about going on a date. So, I told him that I was free that night. Much to my surprise, he said that he would pick me outside this store at 7:00 that evening. After telling me he was going to see me later, he turned around and left me standing there. To be honest with you, I was really nervous. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before." Karui chuckled.

"You and meeee both." Temari cackled from the corner of the table.

"ANYWAYS. I changed a million times because that lug didn't tell me what we were doing. I decided to go all out and really look my best. I had on this tight little white dress with red strappy sandals. Not to mention it took me about 2 hours to do my hair and makeup. I decided to arrive a few minutes late…didn't want to look desperate, you know?"

Ino snorted, but Karui just ignored it and continued with the story.

"So when I got to the market, I looked around and he wasn't there."

Hinata gasped and folded her hands into a tight ball on top of the table.

"I knew it was too good to be true. But, as I started to walk back home…I felt this massive hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see him in a full tuxedo holding these beautiful red roses. He apologized and told me that he was making sure everything was ready for tonight. He grabbed my hand and we walked and talked the entire way to our date spot. I didn't notice where we were going, I was just so caught up in him that I was oblivious to everything around me. But when he finally let go of my hand and told me we were here, I looked up to see that we were at this barbeque place." Karui said with a huge smile on her face.

"NO! He did NOT take you there on his first date with you! That's horrible…" Ino shrieked while leaning back in her chair.

"I promise you, it was the most romantic thing that's ever happened to me." Said a blushing Karui.

Hmmmmm.." Ino said unconvinced.

Karui smiled brightly and continued with the story. "He told me that this was his favorite place in the whole world, and wanted to share that with me. So, he grabbed my hand again and led me into the restaurant. I was really confused at first because it was really dim inside. But as my eye's adjusted, I noticed that there were candles all across the tables. There was absolutely no one in the place, just Choji and I. He told me that he was going to cook me a meal that would guarantee a second date."

"Oh, that's so romantic" Tenten whispered to Hinata.

"That's so…un-Choji" Ino choked.

Karui moved her hair behind her ears, and walked back to the table. She sat back down in her seat that was now the head of the table. She looked down at the purple fabric and picked up a small fork and absentmindedly began to twirl it around.

"He ended up cooking me this fantastic meal on the teppan in front of us. We drank, laughed, and we actually ended up slow dancing to music that wasn't even playing. He even told me that night that he liked me more than he likes food…. and that's a lot." Karui chuckled as she put the fork back down on the table.

"Anyway, it was the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. From that moment on we've never left each other's side, and have been happily married for the past six months. The end." Said Karui as she stood to get up from her chair to take a bow.

Sakura and Tenten stood up at the same time and gave her a playful round of applause.

As Karui slithered back to her chair, she snatched the bowl and moved it directly in front of Temari.

"You've had a lot to say tonight, so I can't WAIT to see what your question is."

Temari flipped Karui off as she slowly positioned herself away from the side of Tenten's chair. At the slowest pace possible (deemed by Ino) Temari was finally able to sit up to correctly pick a piece of paper. After sloshing her hand around the bowl, she eventually was able to grab one. Temari tried her best to read it, but her drunken eyes wouldn't allow her to do so. Tenten grabbed the paper from her hands, read it, and reworded it so Temari would understand.

"So, Temari…what's your favorite thing about Shikamaru?" said Tenten giggling.

Temari's eyes grew wide and she let out a hiccup. She looked around at all the girls one by one in a suspicious manner.

"IF I tell you bitches…will you promise not to say anything?" Temari slurred as she poked Karui hard in the stomach.

The five girls nodded their heads in agreement and huddled close together in excitement.

Temari took both hands to her cheeks and exhaled heavily.

"Fine…I'll tell you…but I'm not standing up."

"I'm so excited for this…" Ino whispered to Sakura as she leaned closer.

Temari hiccupped again and began to reveal the truth about Shikamaru.

"I like the way he makes me feeeeel…n-n-no wait….I like the things he does to me…no….uggggh fuck this is hard!" Temari panted as she struggled to find the words.

Slapping her face in an attempt to sober herself up, she tried again.

"I like the fact that he challengeeees me, unlike everyone else. A lot of people are afraid of meee…but he isn't. After I met him in the Chunin exams…I promised myself that I would be stronger the next time we met. I trained soooooo hard to look smarter and stronger for him..Annnnd I was able to sh-sh-show him that by every time I saved his smart ass…and that made me feel REALLY good you know? But the thing I likeee about him most…is the way he cares for other people." Said Temari as she began to close her eyes and lean back in the wooden chair.

"Shikamaru pretends to not careee about a lot of things…but deep down he really does..and I think it's so cute.. and I like the way he crinkles his nose when he's thinking…and the way he-he-he asks if I've eaten anything during the day…and asks me to run errands with him…." Temari suddenly got lost in her thoughts about him and turned bright red, looking down at the floor.

The stoic demeanor Temari always held was crumbling down before everyone's eyes.

"I like everything about him….I cant just pick ONE thing…no w-w-wait.. I don't like him…" Temari trailed off.

The girls looked at each other in bewilderment about her change in answer.

"I'm confused…do you like him or not?" chirped Ino from the tangled web of girls.

Temari grunted in frustration and moved a stray hair away from her eyes.

"No, I don't like him."

Ino began to protest this answer but was cut off by Temari.

"I love him. Saying that I LIKE him isn't even close to how I feeeeel. I love him more than anything in this whoooooole entire world. I WANT TO GET MARRIED FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! But…I get scared…that he doesn't feel that way. And…if he doesn't…I will love him forever anyways. AND NO…thisisntdrunkmetalking. I love him." Temari shouted to the girls.

Looking as though she regretting telling them, she rested her head on the back of the chair and crossed her arms.

The girls were completely blown away from the honesty that came from Temari.

This honesty moved Sakura so much so that she stood out of her chair and walked towards her. Sakura crouched down on the floor so Temari would be able to look down at her. Sakura looked into Temari's eyes and noticed small pools of drunken emotional tears beginning to form. Sakura lifted her hand to Temari's face and wiped them away.

"Trust me, Temari. He feels the exact same way… he just has a…weird way of showing it" Said Sakura as she stood up to hug her.

"UGH. WHY IS THIS GETTING SO EMOTIONAL?! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN." Ino shouted.

She stood up and walked next to Temari and Sakura and picked up the bowl.

"I'm ready for the next question, PLEASE." Ino said placing the bowl in front of Hinata.

Hinata's eyes grew wide with fear as she looked into the bowl, then to Ino, back to in the bowl, then to a still crouched Sakura.

"Sakura-Chan…I don't think I can do this…" whimpered Hinata.

Ino rolled her eyes and shook the bowl around to mix the papers. She placed her free hand on Hinata's back, with her other scrounging for the next question.

"The questions are pretty easy to answer Hinata, so don't be such a wuss." Ino said taunting Hinata by waving the paper in her face.

Hinata looked at the girls and swallowed hard. She was always the one to ruin something fun like this…but not this time!

Hinata bravely took the paper from Ino's hand and opened it. Immediately opening up the paper, Hinata turned the brightest shade of red the girls have ever seen.

Concerned about what caused Hinata so much distress, Tenten stole the paper from her quivering hand.

Tenten looked at the paper for a moment, then looked at Hinata in pure excitement.

Tenten ran over to Ino and showed her the question she had chosen for Hinata.

Ino's blue eyes squinted as she read over the question.

Ino suddenly busted into a wild fit of laughter and took a seat back into her chair.

"Hinata, I can't WAIT to hear what you have to say about this." Said Ino as she batted her long eyelashes at Hinata.

Hinata choked on her words and cowered in her chair.

"What the hell does it say?" Karui yelled from across the table.

Ino and Tenten looked to one another and began to laugh so hard they were crying. Sakura stood up and walked around the table to Ino and ripped the crumpled paper from her hands so she could have a look.

"Oh no...I can't believe YOU got this one." Sakura frowned at Hinata.

Karui smacked her first on the table to get the girl's attention.

"What. The. Fuck. Does. It. Say." Karui said adding venom to each word.

The girls pointed at one another to decide who would be the one to tell Karui and Temari.

Ino stole the paper back from Sakura and jumped onto the cushion of her chair. She flipped her hair and cleared her throat for all to hear.

"The question is…"

Hinata sunk lower into the chair.

"What's Naruto like in bed?"

All at once the girls began to bust out laughing. After what seemed like 10 minutes of stomach aching laughter, Sakura sat down next to Hinata.

"Hinata, I promise we're not laughing at you. We just weren't expecting you to get a question like this." Said Sakura as she wiped a laughter tear away from her eye.

All Hinata could do was nod her head and play with the end of her new robe.

The girls all gathered together around Hinata, waiting for what the answer would be.

Hinata looked at all the girl's eager eyes and took a sharp inhale of ragged breath.

"Naruto-kun is…"

The girls leaned closer to one another, at this point almost panting.

"Strong." Choked Hinata as her blush grew deeper.

The girls looked at one another in confusion and turned to Hinata to ask her questions at once.

"What does that mean?", "Is that a good thing?", "Are we talking about sex or about his rasengaen?"

Overwhelmed by all the questions, Hinata quickly scurried off the chair and ran to the corner of the room where all the wine was.

In a desperate attempt to look occupied and to blame the blush on alcohol she began to chug from the bottle.

"Well…looks like that's the only answer we'll be getting from her. Tenten, do you want to go next?" Ino asked as she pushed the bowl into Tenten's stomach.

Tenten looked at Sakura and then down at the bowl.

"Hey Sakura, since there are only two questions left… do you want to pick who gets what question, but I'll go ahead and answer first?" As she picked up the bowl and placed it into Sakura's lap.

Sakura closed her eyes and nodded, then proceeded to delicately toss the paper around. After a good amount of shaking, her hand decided on one that was crinkled at the corner. Sakura took her own paper and gently placed it on a small pile of bunched up purple fabric. Despite being the one who planned this, she was unaware of the questions in the bowl. She had written a large amount of them in preparation, and eventually had forgotten what was on them in the first place.

Tenten then picked up her question and unfolded the paper delicately. She cracked her neck in an attempt to calm her nerves.

She read through the question once and crinkled her nose.

Sakura tensed up next to her being afraid that it would be something too difficult for her to answer.

Tenten folded the paper back up and held it tight in her hand. She stood up from her chair and confidently strode to the middle of the room so everyone could see her.

Suddenly becoming intrigued by Tenten's confidence, Ino crossed her arms and legs in the chair and gazed intently at her.

After silently commanding the entire room to look at her, Tenten placed a hand on her hip and began to speak, "After reading over the question multiple times…I finally decided to tell you the story about when I knew I was in love with Neji."

The atmosphere around the room suddenly got extremely tense.

Almost everyone in Konoha knew about love between Tenten and Neji. Even though they didn't openly express it, everyone knew it was there. It was always a subject everyone wanted to avoid when Tenten was around. Knowing how much they loved each other, they didn't want to make his death even more painful for her.

Hinata tiptoed back to her seat next to Sakura and held her breath, not wanting to disturb Tenten's thoughts.

Before Tenten could say a word, her demeanor changed instantly. Silent tears began to flow down her face, as her broken smile began to twitch.

"You know…I never thought there would be a time when I would have to relive this moment again. And I'm not blaming you at all, Sakura. Maybe…maybe saying this aloud to all of you will somehow ease this ache I've been feeling all night."

Sakura looked at the paper between her own fingertips worried about what emotions would consume her when it was her time to answer.

Tenten opened her eyes, and took a large sniff to clear her nose.

"At first when I met Neji, it wasn't love at first sight." She giggled " He wasn't very open to having new friends or being forced to work in a team with people he didn't know. We would train with Lee almost everyday, but our friendship didn't really start to grow until the Chunin Exams. After we both were shown up, we swore that we would make each other strong enough to never let that happen again…Sakura, do you remember that fight with Kisame? Well…it was the first time he actively showed any type of major concern for me. He stopped what he was doing to come check on me to see if I was okay. For those of you who knew Neji, you know that this was a big deal. And from that moment on, I would fall for him harder and faster than I expected…"

As Tenten's body began to quiver the girls began to shift uncomfortably in their seats.

Sakura cursed herself for coming up with this stupid game. All it had done was make people upset, which was not her intention at all.

"You don't have to keep answering Tenten, its okay." Said Sakura as she stood from her seat. "I can just go ahead and answer mine then we can call it a night."

Tenten let out a quiet sob and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"Its okay, Sakura," Tenten said softly. "I really do want to tell you all. I know you guys never want to bring it up in order to spare my feelings, but…I never have had the chance to tell anyone about this. It almost makes me feel…free."

Sakura sighed as she slowly climbed back into her seat next to Ino. Looking over at her, she grabbed Ino's hand for support. Normally, Ino would have rolled her eyes and said some sly remark at this gesture. Instead, she just nodded her head and allowed it to remain intertwined with Sakura's.

Tenten slowly moved back towards the table so she could have a seat. Standing up was making her feel too distant from the girls. Truth be told, she really hated being alone. But when it came to thinking about Neji, being around people was the only way to calm her down. As she sat down next to Hinata and Temari, she relaxed the hand that was still squeezing at the paper. She began to move the paper throughout her fingers, as if her fingertips were gently grazing on top of something delicate.

Tenten looked at Hinata with eyes that looked almost apologetic for bringing Neji up. Not only had the loss been extremely difficult for her, but for Hinata as well.

"I'll speed the story up to a couple nights before we battled the Ten Tails. Neji was walking me home after a long evening of training. We were talking about different training tactics to try tomorrow, when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks when we reached the bench by my house. He told me to take a seat next to him so that we could talk before I went inside. I was actually pretty nervous..I mean, Neji rarely ever wants to really sit and "talk". He told me that his feelings were growing for me, but he didn't know what that meant. At the time, I didn't have the courage to tell him that mine were doing the exact same. All I could do was just sit there and play with my hands in embarrassment, as I sat in my own cower. He asked me if I would be interested in spending more time together with him once the war was done. He told me that training for this weighed too heavily on his mind and couldn't concentrate on anything else. To this day…I still can't believe that I was able to formulate words, but, I told him that nothing would make me happier. Before he left me to walk home the rest of the way he turned to me, and really gently picked up my hand and kissed it. He smiled this incredible smile…god, he looked so handsome. Then, told me to get some sleep and that he would see me tomorrow morning. After he had turned around and started walking away I just laid on the bench staring at the stars. I felt this strange pain as he left, like if I weren't around him I would break in half. And that's when it hit me, I was madly and deeply in love with Neji Huyga."

Tenten finally had the courage to look up at all the other girls after really telling them what happened. And much to her surprise, everyone was crying as much as she was.

Temari and Karui were trying to help clean up each other's makeup from streaming down their face. Sakura and Ino were tangled up like vines resting their heads on top one another, with small silent tears running down their cheeks. Tenten was surprised to see how calm and at peace Hinata looked. Her face looked relaxed as her eyes remained closed. Tenten noticed the stains of old tears that had trailed along her cheeks and chin. She also had a small hint of a smile as if she was thinking of an intimate memory.

Tenten breathed deeply and wiped her eyes one final time. She promised herself that this would be the last time that she cried about this tonight.

"In case you're wondering," Tenten started up again. "I'm still in love with him, and always will be. I can feel him with me when I go to your weddings, when I'm feeling scared and alone, or even before I go to sleep. It's almost like I can feel his calming presence surround me still, and that gives me enough love to last the rest of my life."

Tenten squeezed her eyes tight to make sure no rouge tears would slip away. When she opened them she saw all the girls smiling gently at her.

"Tenten, I don't know what to say." Said Sakura with hitched breath.

"You don't need to say anything, Sakura. Its okay." Tenten said as she reached for Sakura's hand across the table.

Sakura determined it was only fit to take a small break to clean themselves up and calm down before continuing with the final question.

Karui, Temari, and Ino were off in the restroom wiping away the smears of mascara that were all over their faces.

Sakura noticed that Hinata was walking over to Tenten, who was still sitting in her chair playing with the paper.

In an attempt to give them some space, Sakura pretended to reorganize the almost barren food and drinks table.

Hinata sat in the chair next to Tenten and scooted over to her as close as possible. There was a silence between the two girls as they sat and thought about Neji in their own way.

"Thank you." was all Hinata could whisper to Tenten.

Despite the lack of words between the two girls about the subject, they both knew what it meant.

Choked up with emotion, Tenten wrapped her arms around Hinatas neck and hugged her as tight as possible.

Karui entered in the room first looking like she interrupted an extremely intimate moment.

"Should I just go…..or?..." she stammered.

Hinata and Tenten looked at one another and started laughing.

"No, its okay. I'm ready to hear Sakura's story now." said Tenten turning around to face Sakura.

"Me too," Chirped Karui "I cant wait to hear all about Sasuke."

Even the sound of his name alone would send chills throughout Sakura's body. It was one thing for her to say his name internally, but another to have someone else say it.

As Sakura turned around to face the other girls, they were already sitting in their chairs with their eyes on her.

Sakura's breath became ragged as she noticed Ino's greedy hands opening the paper.

Sakura stood up and moved closer to the group, the scene almost looked like she was a criminal on trial.

She played with the rope around her waist in an attempt to try to relax. She really didn't want to tell the girls too much about Sasuke. They had too many intimate moments together that she wanted to keep just between the two of them. But, she certainly didn't want to be the first to have to face the punishment of not answering a question.

Ino began to pout as she read Sakura's question.

"Boo!" Ino whined. "Why does Sakura get the one that has nothing to do with Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura immediately relaxed and sighed that she didn't have to answer something too personal.

"Well Ino-pig, what does it say?" teased Sakura. She felt almost cocky at this point, and wanted to prove to Ino that she wasn't afraid.

The other girls had a look of disappointment about the lack of gossip they were about to receive. Everyone else had to tell intimate secrets between themselves and their loves, so why is it fair that Sakura didn't have to?

"You must tell one "take it to the grave" secret." Ino responded.

From around the table, all the girls sighed in frustration.

"What an easy question! That's not fair at all!" said Karui pouting.

"I-I-I- wouldn't mind hearing one.." slurred Temari by the food table.

Sakura closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could about an answer that would appease the girls. Granted, it wasn't directly ASKING about Sasuke…but almost all of her "take it to the grave" secrets involved him. She thought about coming up with a lie, and say that she once went on a date with Naruto or Lee. But no one was going to believe that at all. Sakura didn't really have anything that would be deemed "juicy gossip". But once again, she thought about how unfair it would be NOT to share something that personal. While she was trying to concentrate on what it was she was going to tell them, she could already hear them whispering about what it could be.

"Maybe it WILL be about Sasuke-kun.", "I doubt it, she wouldn't tell us anything good." ,"What if sheee slept with Kiba too, Ino?" ,"Shut the fuck up, Temari."

Eventually Sakura decided to tell the girls something that had been weighing heavily on her mind recently. But, she was afraid of what their reactions would be.

Sakura opened her eyes, gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. Maybe if she just said it while they were talking, they wouldn't notice.

"I've thought about leaving the village to find Sasuke-kun." Sakura said bluntly.

All the whispers that were just so recently floating around had completely disappeared. Sakura froze in place as they all looked at her in disbelief.

"You…..you, what?" Ino stammered.

Sakura could immediately feel a drip of sweat fall down her neck. She almost felt like she was going to vomit from being so nervous. She couldn't believe that she had finally admitted it out loud.

"I've thought about leaving to go find him." Sakura repeated.

"What do you need to do that for?" asked Karui incredulously.

Sakura sauntered back to the table to grab the first available chair she could find. Ino was now standing up on her left with both hands placed firmly on the table.

On her right, Tenten was frowning with her eyebrows furrowed, looking as though she was in deep thought.

Sakura thought it would be best to explain the situation to them a bit more.

"Before he left the village again, he…told me something. It's been really bothering me, like a lot. It keeps me up all night, and I cant stop feeling anxious. I've been trying to figure out what it means."

Walking back from the food table to get another drink, Temari stood behind Hinata's chair and held the top of it for support.

"Weeeeell…what did he say?" Temari said with an enormous hiccup.

Sakura REALLY didn't want to tell them everything that she and Sasuke had talked about. That moment was so special to her, and wanted to keep it private. But, instead of just making something up to have them get off her ass, she thought she would tell half of the truth.

"He told me that he has to leave the village to think, but when he's done he's going to come see me."

Ino crinkled her nose and plopped back into the chair with her arms crossed.

"No wonder why your head is so big! It's full of air! It's pretty obvious what he's trying to say to you." Said Ino as she glared at Sakura

"It is?"

"Duh! Obviously, it means he wants to see you when he's done doing weird Sasuke-kun stuff."

Sakura then changed her position to sit criss crossed on the chair and rested her elbows on the table. Had she really been this oblivious? Did everyone else know what that meant except for her? Sakura felt like Ino's explanation didn't hold a lot of depth, and wanted to know more.

"Ino, he's been gone for over a year and a half. I haven't heard anything from him! How could someone just say something like that and then just fucking vanish?" stammered a now extremely frustrated Sakura.

Taken back by her sudden aggression, the girls all sat in silence looking around at one another.

Suddenly, a small voice spoke up from the corner of the table.

"Maybe…its because…he loves you? And he wants to see you again once he's a changed man." whispered Hinata.

Sakura felt a slow creep of heat flow through her body, and her heart began to skip a beat.

Love her? There's no way. Sasuke LOVING her? Could that…be?

Sakura just sat there in astonished silence by Hinata's words.

Without trying to cause too much attention to themselves, the girls nodded their heads in agreement. The story of Sakura and Sasuke was always gossip around Konoha. Sakura was always obvious in her affections towards Sasuke, everyone knew that. But, they couldn't deny the way Sasuke would look at her and would pretend not to be concerned for her well-being. But they knew Sasuke's personality was so cold that he would never be blantly obvious about his feelings for her. No one wanted to straight up tell Sakura what they thought because they knew she would do something reckless, like she always had done in the past.

After a few moments of debating back and fourth with herself, she knew what she had to do. If Hinata thought that this was because Sasuke loved her, then she couldn't wait any longer and had to find out for herself. This meant that she had to go..

"Find him." Tenten said allowed at the same time Sakura had internally.

"Wh-what?" Stammered a flustered Sakura.

Tenten scooted her chair closer to Sakura and turned to face her.

"I think you need to go find him and talk to him immediately. What if something happens to Sasuke while he's out there? What if you never get the answer to that question? I just…don't want you to be in the same situation as I was. Everyday of my life I will regret not telling Neji how I felt. I don't want you to feel the same pain that I do. If it means that much to you, you should do it." Tenten said in a firm voice.

Sakura sat back in the chair and squeezed her eyes shut. She felt relieved that someone else felt the same way she did about the situation, but now felt conflicted about actually going through with it.

Trying to diffuse the tension in the room, Ino tapped the wine glass in front of her to get everyone's attention.

"I'm not sure if anyone is aware of the time…but it's now almost 4 in the morning. I have to get married tomorrow, and I REALLY don't massive bags under my eyes because I was up consoling you emotional bitches. So, let's get to sleep please!" Ino snarled.

Being so caught up in each other's love lives made them forget how tired they actually were. Deciding to clean up the mess of the party tomorrow after the wedding, they made their way to the sleeping bags.

Everyone was making their way into to an empty space when Sakura noticed Hinata kneeling on the floor, holding a table leg tightly in her hand.

Not wanting to make a scene, Sakura crawled over to Hinata to see what was wrong.

"Hinata…are you okay?"

Hinata jumped as if she was a horse being spooked by a mouse.

"Sakura-Chan…yeees…I'm okay. Sake was very strong." Hinata slurred.

Sakura's eyes widened in horror, as she made the realization what Hinata was as hammered as Temari was. When the hell did that happen?

"Here Hinata, let me help you up. Let's go try to get some sleep, okay?" said Sakura as she helped Hinata off the floor.

A rosy-cheeked Hinata could only slowly nod yes as she allowed Sakura to carry her to an empty sleeping bag.

Temari immediately fell asleep with loud drunken snores consuming her from the far left. To her right, Karui lay on her stomach and ran her fingers over the embroidered words on the pillowcase. Tenten arms crossed under her head as she was slowly drifting in and out of sleep. Hinata was curled into a ball facing Tenten's direction as she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. Ino was sitting up in the sleeping bag trying to wrap her long hair into a bun so she could sleep more comfortably. And finally, Sakura was in the far right sleeping bag under the covers, looking up at the lights and comparing them to the night sky.

The sound of Ino zipping up her sleeping back broke Sakura's trance.

Ino looked at all the girls on her left, then turned to face Sakura.

"Hey…Sakura?" Ino whispered.

Caught off guard by her small voice, Sakura turned in the sleeping bag to face her.

"I just…wanted to thank you for everything tonight. I had a lot of fun, which is surprising." Ino stammered.

Sakura nodded her head and smiled. She knew that was the best compliment she could possibly receive from her.

"I'm really glad you're my maid of honor…see you in the morning forehead." Said Ino as she stuck her tongue out at Sakura before turning over.

Sakura just stared at the back of Ino's head in shock. Never in a million years did she think she would receive that type of acknowledgement from her.

Sakura turned to lie on her back again to look up at the lights that hung above her. She began to think about what Sasuke was doing at this moment, but was once again interrupted as she heard Karui sit up in her sleeping bag.

"I really wish Hinata would've told us more about Naruto, that would've made this night soooo much better." Karui whispered to any of the girls who were awake.

"Don't count on it." Ino snorted.

After Karui finally decided to lay down in the sleeping bag again, Hinata tossed and turned violently before waking up for a moment.

Just as everyone began to relax on the brink of sleep, Hinata cleared her throat.

"Naruto-kun likes to be called Lord Hokage when we make love." She declared before falling back to sleep.

"Oh my GOD" Karui squeaked after a few moments of awkward silence.

In unison, Sakura and Ino both sat up and the three of them stared at Hinata in complete and utter horror.

Did that REALLY just come from Hinatas drunk mouth?

Before they knew it, the girls were engaged in a battle of trying to contain their laughter in order to not wake up the other girls.

After they were finally able to calm down, they settled into their sleeping bags and attempt to fall asleep.

"I wonder what the boys did all night." Ino whispered to a now almost passed out Sakura.

"Mmmm..I don't know." Sakura mumbled before drifting off into sleep completely.

Ino closed her eyes and started to fall asleep, thinking that they probably didn't have as much fun as they did.


	3. Chapter 3

Sakura had given Naruto a map of all the places the boys needed to avoid that night in order to not disturb the girls.

Not wanting to piss Sakura off as usual, he promised to stay away from them.

Sakura's map had claimed almost all of Konoha that night, and left Naruto with little to no options on what they could do.

He refused to ask anyone for help (especially Sakura or Hinata) with planning Sai's Bachelor party.

Not only did he want to prove that he could put together something like this alone (as a good Best Man should).

But, if he were to become Hokage he would have to do more difficult tasks than putting a party together.

And if he failed at something so simple, there's no way he could handle running the entire village.

Not having a set plan (and hoping the boys wouldn't notice), Naruto improvised almost every step of the way.

Naruto, Sai, Shikamaru, Kiba, Lee, and Choji spent all night barhopping across different towns.

The party had been going according to plan for Naruto.

Everyone was having a good time, getting along, and had completely avoided the girls up to this point.

Without being given a time frame as to when the girls would be on the move, Naruto tried his best to quickly shuffle all the boys back quietly into the village.

However after turning the corner around the front entrance of Konoha, Naruto spotted the girls hobbling down the street towards Ino's flower shop.

The streetlights above them almost gave the illusion as if a spotlight was shining directly on them to cause more attention.

His heart dropped into his stomach as he realized how difficult it would be to avoid them.

The girls were all in a spaced out line from one another as they trudged down the road, so it was very possible that at least one of them would notice.

Oh, this was fucking great.

The night had been going SO well, and now it was going to be ruined.

He froze in place as he couldn't help but think of the chain of events that would follow.

Sakura would see him, come over to him, punch him in the face, leave, Hinata would get upset over his injury, and the night would be ruined.

The End.

Hoping to avoid a shitty ending to a great night, Naruto began to pick up the pace and casually walk across the street with everyone else.

He tried his best to pretend that they weren't almost a street length away from the group they had been trying to avoid all night.

But, he couldn't help but glance over and smile at his stunning wife before he turned the corner.

He bought that dress for her birthday this year, and felt honored that she chose to wear it tonight.

His heart couldn't help but skip a beat as he looked at her.

A tipsy Lee spied Sakura from across the street, and couldn't resist calling to her, quickly ending Naruto's thoughts.

"HEY, SAKU..." Lee began to yell at her until Naruto's calloused hand came crashing down over his mouth, instantly cutting off all noise.

Lucky for them, none of the girls seemed to notice Lee's alcohol fueled yells to Sakura.

Naruto grabbed Lee by the arm and yanked him behind the nearest building.

He would be damned if Rock Lee was the moron who ruined this for everyone.

"Dude," Naruto said in a harsh whisper "Shut the fuck up! We were supposed to AVOID them remember? You're making a scene."

All the boys stopped along the sidewalk as they heard Lee's voice quickly get cut off.

"Where did Naruto and Lee go?" Choji asked Shikamaru as he looked around for them.

Rather than looking across the street in the girl's direction, they looked up and down the sidewalk.

Not being able to see much in the dark, they had to walk around a few times before they noticed Naruto's waving hand from around the corner.

Shikamaru nodded his head over in Naruto's direction, to which all the boys quickly followed suit.

The boys lined up one by one against the wall, trying their best to hold their breath in order to not make noise.

"Why are we hiding, again?" Kiba whispered to Naruto from the shadows after a few tense minutes of hiding in the dark.

"The girls are in the middle of the street." Naruto hissed.

All at once, the boys piled on top of one another to look in the middle of the street to see all the girls in all their drunken glory.

Choji whistled as quietly as he could. "Damn, my wife looks SMOKIN." He whispered to Shikamaru as he hit him in the stomach with his large elbow.

Shikamaru squinted his eyes to get a better look at Temari, who was obviously pretty wasted.

His mouth twitched into a smile as he saw her break her heel in the gravel and scream at Karui for support.

Sai was completely frozen as he stared at his fiancé from across the street.

She was so beautiful and graceful he thought to himself, even when she yelled at people.

Sai's thoughts about his fiancés beauty were quickly interrupted.

Kiba began to push everyone aside so that he could leave the shadows of the building.

None of the girls were eye candy to him anymore, so didn't care to stop and watch.

"Let's just go." Kiba grunted as he officially began to walk onto the sidewalk again.

All the boys stole one last glance at the girls before they left them for the night.

Even though they were going to see them tomorrow, the boys couldn't help but feel a small pain in their chest as they watched them walk away.

Realizing that Lee wasn't following the group and had completely stopped walking in order to continue to stare at Sakura, Naruto threw him over his shoulder and ran to catch up with the group.

"But, Sakura looks so beautiful! Don't you think, Naruto?" Lee cooed over Naruto's shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever." Naruto said in an uninterested voice as he put Lee back onto the floor.

"What do you think they did tonight?" Lee asked anyone who was listening to him.

"Don't know, don't care." Kiba responded in a harsher tone than was probably intended.

It had just turned 1 AM when the boys finally returned to Hinata and Naruto's apartment to continue the random festivities.

Praying that his decorations and food were still intact after being out so long, Naruto slowly opened the door to let the extremely tipsy boys in.

"Wow! This looks fantastic, Naruto! You did such a great job!" a rosy-cheeked Lee yelled as he slid his thin frame through the doorway.

Scanning the room to see what Lee had seen, Shikamaru decided to add in his two cents. "These decorations are kind of a drag, man. It looks like a children's birthday party."

Following after the two boys, Naruto, Choji, Kiba and Sai entered in the living room one by one to look around at the apartment.

Immediately after walking through the door, your eyes would look at a sea of beige tile that had random objects floating in it.

There was a small red couch with two love seats placed on either side of it.

Small white pillows were delicately and perfectly aligned to hug each cushion on every piece of seating furniture.

In front of the couch stood a small table that held different bowls of snacks for everyone to pick at throughout the night.

Directly behind the couch, there were screen doors that were so large that it almost took up the entire wall.

These doors would open up and lead you to a patio that was blank so that Naruto could train outside.

Even though it was blank, you wouldn't even notice due to how beautiful the scenery was surrounding it.

The apartment was placed almost in the center of town, but facing the way of the mountains that held the hokage's faces.

This was Naruto's favorite place to be, because he would be able to wake up every morning and see the faces of all those he admired so deeply.

Especially being able to wake up and see his father looking right at him, which was something he always dreamed about.

But, if you went back inside and looked at a little open area between the ceiling and screen door there was a banner hanging with the words, "Congratulations Sai" written in Naruto's messy handwriting.

To the right of the couch, your eyes would look at the dining room.

If you looked closely, one would be able to notice that the table being used was actually Naruto's old one from his apartment as a child.

Naruto had begged Hinata not to take it with them.

He wanted to start a new life with her, and wanted to leave his old used and abused table behind.

Hinata thought it would be a good reminder to Naruto of how far he's come in his life. Not to mention that the table had been there with him throughout childhood, and it deserved to be in a new and clean home just like Naruto.

Despite how old the table really was, it almost looked brand new due to the white tablecloth Hinata had made for it.

The table that once held nothing but expired and rotted food, now was full of everything young Naruto had dreamed about.

There were mountains of Pizza boxes, more drinks than were necessary for such a small group, and a big vanilla cake made just for Sai.

There were four small black chairs that surrounded the dining room table, with the same cushions that the couches had placed in the center of them.

On the top of each chair, small mismatched balloons were tied to the top.

Naruto's eyes twitched with anger as he realized that some were deflating, which made it look even more depressing than it probably already was.

If you looked to the far left of the apartment you would see the hallway, which led to the bedroom and bathrooms.

Since he highly doubted that no one would be entering that area, he left it completely blank.

"Thank god there's at least food, I'm fucking starving." Choji said as he rushed over to the table to make himself a plate.

Kiba had rushed past Naruto to sprawl out across the couch in an attempt to claim it as his own.

Shikamaru and Lee followed suit and would each sit in a love seat and began to visibly relax.

Naruto leaned against the wall next to the door and watched Sai, as he silently walked around the room to analyze everything up close.

Always afraid of Sai's lack of words, Naruto decided to get off the wall to open up a fresh beer in order to calm his nerves.

As Choji was distracted with pizza, and the other boys talked about how much money they had spent on alcohol tonight, Sai had crept up behind Naruto and tapped him on the shoulder.

The unexpected tap actually made Naruto jump in the air.

Trying to pretend it didn't scare him as much as it did, Naruto turned around to face him.

Rather than seeing no expression on his face as usual, Sai had his eyes closed with a small smile on his face.

"This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me, and I am very happy. Thank you very much, Naruto." Sai said with a bow.

Caught off guard by Sai's appreciation, an embarrassed Naruto smiled his goofiest smile and placed his free hand on the back of his neck.

"I'm glad you like it." Naruto said, "Here, try some pizza. It tastes really good, I promise."

He said as he gestured to the mountain of unopened boxes.

Sai smiled even larger, and asked for Choji to put together a small "sampler" plate for him.

Feeling much more confident about what he had put together, he decided to brag to Shikamaru about how much Sai was enjoying it.

Walking back over to the living room and finding no empty space, he crouched down next to Shikamaru.

"At least Sai likes my decorations." Naruto whispered proudly as he took a large sip of beer.

Shikamaru shifted his entire body to look down at Naruto, and rolled his large brown eyes with a hint of amusement.

As Naruto laughed to himself, his eyes glanced over to Sai and Choji who now had their faces covered in pizza sauce.

"So…what else are we doing tonight, Naruto?" Kiba asked Naruto in a suspicious voice.

Naruto frowned, and tried to quickly think of something else to do.

He hadn't actually PLANNED what they would do once they got home.

He just figured they would eat then go to bed, just like he would have if this were a normal night.

Everyone's eyes were all on Naruto, which caused him to panic.

"I…don't know? Maybe…we could…" stuttered Naruto as he swished his beer around in the bottle.

Kiba leaned back in the couch, closed his eyes and smiled.

"Well, lucky for you boys. I planned something special for our friend Sai here." He said with his hand in the air gesturing in Sai's direction.

Startled at the fact that Kiba had something planned, Naruto's bright blue eyes opened wide.

Kiba was a loose cannon and always unpredictable.

So to have him plan a "surprise" was something unusual, and not to mention scary.

"What is it?" Naruto nervously asked Kiba.

Kiba glanced at the watch around his wrist and grinned at Naruto.

"Actually, you'll know in about 5 minutes."

Raising his eyebrow, Shikamaru silently wondered what it would be.

Naruto clutched his beer tightly as knots began to form in his stomach.

What the hell was Kiba planning? Naruto didn't like this one bit.

"Lee!" Kiba yelled without even looking at him.

Lee jumped out of the chair and into the air at attention, and put his hand to his forehead to salute Kiba.

"Go clean Sai and Choji up in the bathroom. I don't want them to look like slobs." Kiba hissed in Lee's direction.

With a quick bow, Lee was off to pull Sai and Choji away from the food and into the bathroom.

As soon as the other boys left, Naruto placed his beer on the little table in front of him and stole the now empty love seat.

"So…what's happening?" Naruto probed a smug looking Kiba.

Taking a few moments to answer, Kiba adjusted his hood to cover his face then turned to Naruto.

"We're having something come to the house." Kiba simply stated.

Naruto and Shikamaru looked to one another in an instant.

Staring at each other, they had a mental conversation about what they thought it could be.

Looking to the both of them, Kiba sighed and leaned back farther into the couch.

"Relax, you too. It has to do with Sai, not with either of you."

This made Naruto and Shikamaru more confused than before.

There was no point in trying to pry answers from Kiba when this "thing" was to arrive in a few moments anyway.

Not wanting to sit still, Naruto got up from the chair and grabbed his beer to finish it off. As Shikamaru and Kiba remained silent, the only noise that filled the room was Naruto throwing his bottle away.

As Naruto was turning around to walk back to the couch, there was a gentle knock on the door.

Once again, Shikamaru and Naruto glanced at each other to have another mental conversation.

"I'll get it. Can you tell the guys that our surprise has arrived?" Kiba said as he got off the couch to open the door.

At the same time, Shikamaru and Naruto got up to walk to the bathroom to fetch everyone else.

"I don't even want to look." Shikamaru whispered to Naruto as they walked side by side down the hallway.

All Naruto could do was nod in agreement as he reached the door to knock on it.

The door swung open almost immediately as Lee and Choji rushed out in excitement.

Sai simply smiled at Naruto and walked in front of him to join the others.

"After you." teased Naruto as he gestured to Shikamaru to walk first.

Running his fingers through his ponytail, Shikamaru grunted and led the way for Naruto to follow.

As the boys turned the corner to once again be in the living room, they were surprised to see nothing else new in there.

"So, where is this "surprise"?" Shikamaru said pretending to be bored as he leaned on the entrance of the hallway.

"Just take a seat boys, I wanted to wait until we were all here to escort them in." Kiba chuckled.

"Them?!" Lee cried incredulously as he took the seat in the center of the couch.

Shikamaru shook his head and walked into the living room to linger around the couch to get a better look.

Naruto creeped out from the hallway and shuffled over to the empty love seat next to Shikamaru.

Kiba took his hood off, smoothed his hair with one quick move and walked outside the apartment.

Naruto shifted in his seat uncomfortably and clenched his fist in a ball.

Why the hell was he so anxious?

After what seemed like an eternity, Kiba entered the room with two young women clinging to each of his arms.

"Gentleman, may I introduce you to my two beautiful friends." Kiba said with an abnormally large smile on his face.

The moment they walked in, Shikamaru knew exactly what was happening.

Kiba booked strippers.

"This is Aiko." Kiba announced as the girl on his left arm winked at the boys,

"And this is Masami." He said as the other girl blew a kiss to Lee (who almost had a heart attack when this happened.)

Even though the girls were only dressed in robes, Naruto still was unable to figure out why they were here.

He glanced at everyone in the room to see if they were just as confused as he was.

Shikamaru had his eyebrows furrowed together as a small frown formed on his face.

Lee was in the center of the couch resting his elbows on his thighs. Holding his face in his palms, he literally had hearts bulging from his eyes.

Choji was on the other love seat smirking at Lee, obviously aware of what this was.

And finally, there was Sai who had no expression on his face as looked at the women from his chair in the dining room.

Aiko let go of Kiba's arm and stepped into the center of the living room.

"So, which one of you is getting married tomorrow?" she purred as she untied her platinum blonde hair from the bun that had been on the top of her head.

Before Sai could answer for himself, Kiba pointed directly at him.

Masami joined Aiko and batted her hazel eyes flirtatiously at Sai. "Well, congratulations honey. Your fiancé is one lucky lady, don't you think Aiko?"

Aiko nodded and took a step closer to Sai, but glanced around the room at the boys.

"Well, even though he's the only one getting married tomorrow. We're going to make sure that everyone has a good time tonight."

Finally realizing what was going on, Naruto's eyes bulged from his head.

He immediately stood up from his chair before he was trapped from leaving.

"I'm going to go outside for a little bit if you don't mind, ladies." Naruto politely said without looking at either Aiko or Masami.

As the two girls pulled Sai to the couch next to Lee, they completely disregarded Naruto.

Relieved that he didn't have to explain himself, he grabbed two beers and headed out the screen door to sit on the patio alone.

Ignoring the sounds of the girls giggling from inside, Naruto opened his beer by using the wall then leaned against the railing over looking the city.

As Naruto's mind drifted off to what Hinata was doing, he was interrupted by the screen door opening and closing gently as someone walked outside to join him.

A bead of sweat dripped down his neck as he hoped that it wasn't Aiko or Masami trying to lure him back in.

He didn't dare to turn around, but waited for whomever it was to speak first.

"I'm assuming you didn't stay in there because of Hinata?" Shikamaru asked Naruto from behind him.

Relieved that it wasn't someone else, his rigid position immediately relaxed.

"It just doesn't feel right since I'm married now, you know? I love Hinata so much, and I would never do anything to hurt her. And I feel like being in there with them would do that." Naruto responded without looking back at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru leaned his back against the railing next to Naruto and took out a pack of smokes from his pocket.

"Why are you out here?" Naruto asked as he turned his head to look at Shikamaru.

Rather than answer right away, Shikamaru tapped the top of the box and opened it.

After finding one that seemed appealing to him, he stuck the tiny cigarette in between his teeth to hold it as he tucked the box away.

"Well," Shikamaru said with his mouth full as he pulled a lighter out of his shirt pocket "Knowing Kiba, he's going to brag to all of fucking Konoha about tonight. And I don't want Temari to find out I was part of it, because it's a real drag when she's mad at me." He said as he finally lit his cigarette and blew the smoke away from Naruto.

Knowing that Shikamaru was out here for the same reasons as he was (even though it said differently), he felt relieved knowing that he wasn't the only one who would feel guilty about staying in there.

"Won't Karui be pissed with Choji?" Naruto asked as he took a sip of his beer.

"Nah, Karui knows Choji's a stand up guy and wouldn't do anything like that." Shikamaru said quickly as he took another hit from his cigarette.

In one giant sip, Naruto finished off his beer and placed it on the floor before speaking again.

"Tonight's been fun and everything…but I feel like something's missing, you know?"

Shikamaru turned around to lean against the railing, and absentmindedly tapped the ashes off the balcony before taking another hit.

Naruto didn't even have to say what it was that was bothering him, Shikamaru already knew.

"Do you think he would have come tonight anyway?" he asked Naruto.

After silently looking at his dad's face in the mountain, Naruto turned to look at Shikamaru.

"Maybe, I don't know. I just feel like…he's missing so many important things in our lives. I just wish he could've been here for them, especially mine."

Turning back around, Shikamaru rested his elbows on the railing and looked up the sky.

Thinking of someone dear to him as well, he closed his eyes.

A sudden gust of summer breeze made him feel at peace, almost like something had gently grazed his shoulders.

"I know the feeling…I wish Asuma could be here for mine." He said after blowing the smoke away.

Naruto scrambled to face Shikamaru in order to drown him with questions.

This was the first time he'd ever mentioned getting married to Temari.

Knowing exactly what Naruto was going to ask him, he decided to just tell him anyway.

"Temari thinks I'm unaware of her dropping hints to me multiple times a day. To be honest, I already bought a ring and everything. But planning a proposal is a drag, and I don't want to go through all the trouble of doing it. So I'm just going to straight up ask her after the wedding tomorrow."

Turning back around to tap more ashes off the cigarette, Shikamaru leaned closer to Naruto.

"Just…don't tell anyone, okay? I don't want it to be a big deal."

Naruto smiled so big that his eyes began to crinkle, and promised not to say anything.

A few seconds of silence were interrupted by Lee's yelling from inside.

"MY YOUTH IS BEING AWAKENED BY YOU GORGEOUS WOMEN."

Shikamaru and Naruto looked at one another and laughed quietly.

"You know," Naruto whispered "People always thought you and Ino would get married before you met Temari."

Shikamaru was so startled by that statement that he accidently dropped his unfinished cigarette off the railing.

"Hell fucking no." Shikamaru said coughing into his sleeve. "Never liked her like that, and never will. Sai is the perfect match her."

"You think?" Naruto snorted.

"Yeah, I mean…" Shikamaru continued after clearing his throat "He's the only one who will listen when she talks, not to mention caters to her every whim."

Looking at his father's face again, Naruto smiled to himself.

He was happy that everyone was finding whom he or she were supposed to be with…

But his mind couldn't help but wander back to Sasuke, and wonder if he would ever find the same kind of happiness.

"Not to mention, I'm sure Ino is thrilled that she got married before Sakura." Shikamaru smirked as he searched his pocket for another cigarette.

Naruto's smile quickly faded to a frown as he thought about how upset Sakura would feel tomorrow.

Even though she was always good at hiding it, he knew that she was hurting because of Sasuke leaving again.

And now that all these weddings were happening, it only made her feel worse.

"Is Sasuke going to come back for her?" Shikamaru asked interrupting Naruto's thoughts.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked Shikamaru incredulously.

Did he know why Sasuke had left too?

"Well that's why he left the village right? It was for Sakura." Shikamaru said bluntly after blowing a smoke ring into the air.

"Yeah." Was the only thing that Naruto was able to muster.

Sasuke had made Naruto promise not to tell anyone (especially Sakura), the real reason why he was leaving.

Naruto felt the burden of carrying this promise every day as he saw how much pain Sakura was in.

If only he could tell her…

"For someone who apparently has no "emotion", he sure is easily controlled by them." Shikamaru smirked as he tapped his new cigarette on the railing.

Naruto couldn't help but smile in agreement at this truthful statement.

"Well, he better hurry up and come back. Who knows, maybe Lee will steal her away." Shikamaru said under his breath.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Lee and Sakura getting married.

"Who do you think is going to cave and find each other first, Sasuke or Sakura?" Shikamaru asked Naruto incredibly serious.

Naruto bent down and picked up the extra beer bottle he brought outside.

"It'll be Sakura." He said immediately, as he opened the bottle and took a sip.

"I dunno, man." Shikamaru said "I feel like Sasuke will feel like he's making a mistake and come back."

Naruto shook his head and took another sip of his beer.

"How about we make a bet on it." Shikamaru sneered as he leaned closer to Naruto.

"A hundred bucks. I bet Sasuke, and you bet Sakura."

Naruto scrunched his eyes at Shikamaru and put his free hand on the back of his neck.

"I don't know if I'm talking to Shikamaru or Granny Tsunade." Naruto teased.

Shikamaru wiped the hand that used to be holding the cigarette on his pants and held it out to Naruto to shake.

"Do we have a deal, or no?" Shikamaru asked firmly.

Naruto carefully considered his answer before he eventually decided to shake on it.

Before the boys could finish their conversation about this topic, the slider door opened at an alarming pace.

Lee slinked outside and walked to the opposite side of Shikamaru, but instead of leaning against the railing like he was, Lee immediately slumped to the floor.

The boys looked at Lee and tried to guess what happened in there.

Not only was his face as red as Hinata's used to be when she was embarrassed, but he looked like a mess.

His normally straight and perfect hair was now completely disheveled as if fingers had assaulted it.

His trademark green jumpsuit was zipped down in the front revealing his chest, which had faint trails of scratch marks on it.

His neck was covered with smudges of red lipstick with small hickeys allover it.

His lips looked bruised and swollen, as if he had engaged in combat.

"That…was…the…best…night…of…my…life." Lee panted as he tried to catch his breath on the floor.

Shikamaru and Naruto looked to each other and tapped the beer bottle and cigarette together, almost as if they had just finished toasting on why coming outside had been a better idea.

Choji was howling with laughter as he ran outside and grabbed onto one of Naruto and Shikamaru's shoulders.

"That was fucking incredible, and you guys missed it!" Choji said in between laughs that were so violent it shook his entire body.

Shikamaru tossed his now finished cigarette off the balcony and turned to face Choji.

"I don't know, Naruto and I had a pretty good time out here."

"NO, DUDE. I DON'T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN SAI!" Choji screamed into Shikamaru's face as he grabbed both his shoulders and shook him.

Shikamaru smirked at Choji's excitement and looked past his head to see what was inside.

Now becoming extremely interested in what happened, Naruto passed the bottle to Choji and headed straight back into his apartment.

The living room looked the exact same as it had when he left to go outside.

Due to the fact that Sai was still sitting in the center of the couch, Naruto was unable to see his expression.

But if you looked straight ahead at the front door, Kiba was slumped against it with his hood covering his face.

Afraid that Sai had just beaten the shit out of him, Naruto rushed over to check on Kiba without glancing back.

As Naruto crouched down to lift Kiba's hood up, he was surprised to see the condition he was in.

Kiba was an even darker shade of red than Lee was, and had lipstick stains allover his mouth.

His neck was destroyed with hickeys, but instead of scratch marks on his chest he had them across his cheek.

Knowing that Sai had nothing to do with this, he quickly turned to look at him.

Sai was sitting comfortably in center of the couch with absolutely no expression on his face at all.

"What the hell?" Naruto said out loud rather than inside his own head.

Choji re-entered the room with one arm around draped across Shikamaru and one around Lee.

"Sai, do you want me to tell them? Or would you rather do it?" Choji asked from behind him.

Sai gracefully rose from the chair and walked over to the front door where his bag and shoes were.

"You can do it, Choji. I'm going to start getting ready for bed." He said without any hint of emotion as he walked down the hallway.

After the bathroom door had an audible close for all to hear, Choji began to laugh even harder.

"What the fuck happened?" Naruto whispered harshly to Choji as he checked to make sure Sai wasn't coming back.

Choji continued his hysterical laughter as he gathered all the boys around the couch.

"Well the girls had spent almost the entire night literally on top of Kiba and Lee. To be honest, I was only in here to make sure that Sai wouldn't do anything bad. I mean…he had no idea what these girls were doing, and I didn't want him to do anything stupid."

Naruto decided to get up off the floor and sit in the love seat next to Choji so that he didn't have to talk so loud.

"I was sitting in the kitchen eating pizza on the floor, trying my best to ignore all the noises I heard from the living room. Sai had been extremely quiet all night, so that made me worried. As I finally decided to check on everyone, I look up to see Kiba and Aiko all over each other on the floor. And as for Masami and Lee, I'm ninety nine percent sure they were dry humping on the couch…sorry Naruto" Choji said while trying not to laugh.

Naruto cringed at the thought of much he was going to have to clean before Hinata got home tomorrow.

"Anyway," Choji continued "Sai was walking over to me with a plateful of pizza. But was interrupted by the two girls who literally forced him over to one of the empty chairs. So, they start stripping off the final item of their clothes when they just jumped all over Sai. Like, on top of him and circling him as if they were fucking sharks smelling blood for the first time. So… just as I'm about to bend down to go back to ignoring the living room, I hear Sai stand up."

"Oh god." Shikamaru said as he leaned his face into his palm.

Choji leaned closer to Shikamaru and Naruto.

"He interrupted the girl's "routine" or whatever, and started to walk away from them. Aiko starts to ask him if he's having fun, and Sai responds with…" Choji tried to say, but was cut off by laughter that consumed him again.

"Responded with what?! Hurry up!" Naruto pleaded.

Choji cleared his throat and tried to do his best Sai impression. "No, it's not. If I am to be honest, this is probably one of the worst things I've ever had to endure. Eating a slice of pizza sounds more appealing to me than this ever will." AND HE JUST GOT UP AND FUCKING LEFT TO JOIN ME IN THE KITCHEN." Choji screamed.

After taking a moment to process what happened, Shikamaru and Naruto began to choke back laughter.

"What did the girls do?" Shikamaru asked Choji with a smile on his face.

"Just…got dressed really quick and ran out the door." Choji responded.

Without warning, Shikamaru and Naruto joined in with Choji's silent stomach aching laughter.

Eyes blurry with tears of laughter, Naruto looked down the hallway to see Sai standing in the middle of it smiling at them.

After setting his bag by his shoes in the doorway next to Kiba, Sai rolled his sleeping bag out right next to the table.

After the laughter had finally died down, Sai decided to speak.

"I now understand why you two left. That was horrific, and I regret not coming with you." He said bluntly.

The four boys began to laugh together at once, and then go into more details about what happened that night when they were able to properly formulate words.

After about two hours of beer, pizza, cake, and a heated discussion about new training methods, the boys decided to call it a night.

Lee was already curled up into a ball on the large couch and fast asleep, snoring so loud that it woke him up for a split second before passing out again.

Kiba had moved from his slumped position to now being completely sprawled out on the floor in the same place, completely unaware about how uncomfortable it probably was.

After realizing that he left his sleeping bag at home, and declared it being a "drag" to walk over to fetch it, Shikamaru decided to put the two love seats together to make one small bed for himself.

Choji had brought himself a blow up mattress and set it up between Kiba and Sai.

Naruto bid everyone a good night and walked down the hallway into his room.

He opened the door, flipped on the lights, and flopped on his back into the empty bed.

Naruto stared hard at the ceiling for so long that his eyes burned.

He felt incredibly restless and uneasy after his conversation with Shikamaru.

He wasn't sure if it what he was about to do was the right thing or not, but he felt like it needed to be done.

Before he decided to go officially turn in for the night, he snuck past the snoring men in his living room to go outside on the patio one last time.

His eyes scanned over the city, until his eyes fell onto Ino's flower shop noticing that the light was still on.

Once again, he thought about his conversation with Shikamaru about Sasuke and Sakura.

At first, Naruto became angry.

After all the shit Sasuke had put Sakura and himself through…then FINALLY apologized for it, he decided to leave again.

If someone was stubborn as Shikamaru was able to come to term with his feelings, why couldn't Sasuke do the same?

Naruto hoped that Sasuke would make his return to the village soon and have this mess be over with.

A broken smile formed on his face as he realized that was highly unlikely to happen.

He had been in contact with Sasuke off and on throughout the past year and a half but didn't tell anyone about it.

He knew that if he told anyone, the information would immediately get back to Sakura. And if Sakura found out about any of it, who knows what would've happened.

Not only did the boys use this as a safety precaution to keep track of where Sasuke was traveling, but it was also for Sasuke to keep tabs on Sakura in secret.

Sasuke wanted to be sure that Sakura remained safe during the time of his absence, and use it as a reminder to him that leaving the village wasn't a mistake.

But after his conversation with Shikamaru this evening, Naruto had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Everyone had been noticing Sakura becoming increasingly restless.

Not to mention, she was seen buying items from the market that would be suitable for a long trip.

And if it wasn't serious, why would Shikamaru be so curious about their relationship?

He never cared about it before.

Afraid of an impulsive decision from Sakura, Naruto decided to write to Sasuke to warn him.

Just in case she did decide to leave the village, he hoped that Sasuke would be prepared for her arrival.

After pulling a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket, Naruto scribbled down his thoughts.

When he was finished, he whistled into the night sky.

Within two minutes of waiting, a crow appeared on Naruto's railing.

Trying to be as sly as possible, he quickly tied the note to the bird's leg and sent it off.

Sneaking back in through the screen door, he scanned the living room to make sure everyone was still fast asleep.

Luckily, they were.

Naruto tip toed back into his bedroom and crawled into his empty bed.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hoping that he wasn't too late.


End file.
